Chicago — The offense was too little and came too late for the Milwaukee Brewers on an unseasonably cold Tuesday night.

They got three runners on base in the eighth inning against reliever Pedro Strop, matching their total for the game going into the inning. But Jonathan Villar popped out with the tying run on second base and the Brewers fell to the Chicago Cubs, 4-3, at Wrigley Field.

'It was tough to score runs tonight,' said manager Craig Counsell. 'The wind was a factor. We had some runners out there, they got a couple two-out hits and that was kind of the difference.'

Walks by Aaron Hill and Colin Walsh put two on with one out in the eighth against Strop, so Counsell made the call for Ryan Braun, who had been held out of the starting lineup to rest his surgically repaired lower back.

He responded by doubling into the right-field corner on Strop's first offering, scoring Hill and Walsh and pulling Milwaukee to within a run.

But Strop struck out Domingo Santana and Travis Wood came on to get Villar, ending the threat. The Brewers brought the go-ahead run to the plate in the ninth against closer Hector Rondon, but Hill's drive to deep left field died in the corner just short of the wall.

'I think that ball's gone for sure if the wind's not blowing,' said Brewers centerfielder Kirk Nieuwenhuis. 'He hit it well. It was just too high. I thought it was gone.'

Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks and reliever Adam Warren had combined to retire 10 straight Brewers hitters and 17 of 18 overall heading into the eighth on a night when many Brewers wore ski masks and long sleeves to deal with temperatures in the low 40s and gusting winds.

'Windy and cold,' said Nieuwenhuis. 'It wasn't as windy as I've seen it here but it was definitely windy. The last couple innings I was definitely shivering a little bit.

'But they had to play in it too.'

Hendricks entered the night with a 4-1 record and 1.45 ERA in six starts against the Brewers. Yet Milwaukee got to him for a run in the second as Chris Carter drew a leadoff walk, moved to third on a Nieuwenhuis double and scored on Hill's sacrifice fly to left.

Brewers starter Jimmy Nelson was also on early, striking out five through the first four innings. He didn't allow a hit until Kris Bryant's double in the fourth and wasn't in any trouble until the fifth.

It started with a leadoff walk to Jorge Soler. Addison Russell followed with a single and David Ross bunted the runners into scoring position, leaving Cubs manager Joe Maddon to pull Hendricks at 69 pitches for pinch hitter Tommy LaStella.

Nelson walked LaStella to load the bases for Dexter Fowler, whose sacrifice fly to center tied the game at 1-1.

Nelson then ran out of gas in the sixth. The trouble started when Hill booted a routine bouncer to third for his first error of the season. Nelson got Anthony Rizzo to fly out to center but followed by walking Ben Zobrist to end his night at a season-high 109 pitches.

Nelson (3-2) allowed just two hits, and only one of the three runs he allowed was earned. He also walked four and struck out six as his personal three-game winning streak was snapped.

'They were pretty patient today. They probably only swung at a handful of off-speed pitches,' Nelson said. 'They were attacking the fastball and spit on some pretty good pitches. I walked a few too many guys and got my pitch count up a little bit right there.'

Carlos Torres came on to retire Soler before Russell delivered the key blow with a triple into the gap in right-center that cleared the bases and put the Cubs in front, 3-1.

'Russell's two-out hit was the big hit,' Counsell said.

Chicago tacked on what became the decisive run in the seventh, when Rizzo muscled a hustle double off up the middle off Blaine Boyer and against the Brewers' shift.

Scooter Gennett was scratched about 30 minutes before the game due to right oblique tightness.